Indonesian Govt. under fire over plan to conduct mandatory virginity tests on school girls

Indonesia's Education Minister's new draft plan to make virginity tests mandatory for female high school students has sparked off an outrage over alleged discrimination against women as well as a charge that this is a clear violation of human rights.

Activists have accused Muhammad Rasyid of promoting sexual violence against women after he suggested the plan, following the arrest of six high-school students for alleged prostitution, The Guardian reports.

The test would affect students seeking to enter senior high school as it would require students aged between 16 and 19 to have their hymen examined every year until graduation, the report added.

According to the report, Rasyid had described the plan as an accurate way to protect children from prostitution and free sex.

Meanwhile, his proposal has triggered anger among the local and national MPs, activists, rights groups and even the local Islamic advisory council.

They all have denounced Rasyid's plan as denying the universal right to education of the female students.

The National Commission for Child Protection has also criticized the plan as extreme in an attempt to achieve popularity among religious conservatives.

The move comes in a bid to balance the country's rapid modernisation with traditional, mainly Muslim, values.